The Farmer and the Magician

by RoyalBardofCanterlot


Chapter 4

Applejack trotted through town till she reached the library. Her quarry was nowhere in sight. Nopony had seen her for a week. She had asked over town. She hadn't been spotted at Sugarcube Corner, Rarity didn't know her whereabouts, Dash hadn't seen her and she hadn't visited Fluttershy.

Something was very wrong. Twilight had told her she was going to be working on an experiment. Something about thaumaturgical something-or-other. Applejack knew very little about unicorn magic so she didn't know what that was. You'd think that she would know something having been friends with Rarity for years, but her other unicorn friend knew only the basics of magic. Twilight was known for getting caught up in her experiments, but usually she at least took a morning walk around town. That nopony had seen her was very alarming.

Of course, her other friends had tried to see the unicorn. They all reported Spike coming to the door with a bleary-eyed look and telling them Twilight wasn't accepting visitors. Dash had told Applejack that she'd tried to drag Twilight to a rodeo, but Twilight had refused. According to Dash her mane was a mess and her right eye and left ear was twitching. Applejack knew that when Twilight's ears were twitching it meant trouble. So she stood at the door to the library and firmly knocked.

"Twi! I know yer in their and I ain't gonna take no for an answer!"

There was no response. Applejack sighed and tried to open the library door which was locked. "Sugarcube, don't make me buck this door down!"

There was a scurrying of claws over wood and an exhausted-looking purple dragon came to the door. He forced a smile.

"Hey AJ. 'Sup?"

Then he collapsed. Applejack caught him and cradled the young reptile in her forehooves.

"You okay there, Sugarcube?"

Spike got out of Applejack's hooves. "Me? I'm good. It's all good."

The smile on his lips was painfully forced.

"What in tarnation is goin' on here?"

"Nothing. Nothing's going on. Why would anything be going on?"

The Element of Honesty stared at the young dragon.

"Where's Twilight?"

Spike produced a handkerchief and patted his forehead. "Twilight had to go...do a thing....at a place..."

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "You know honesty's the best policy, right?"

The baby dragon's lower lip trembled.

"What's Twilight gone and done now?"

Tears filled his eyes. Guilt hit Applejack, but she kept her iron stare fixed on the dragon. Then she sighed and nuzzled him. Spike leaned into her.

"I'm Twi's friend, Spike. I just want to help her if she's got herself in trouble. We don't want another Smarty Pants incident do we?"

Spike vigorously shook his head.

"Spike? Who is it?" A worn sounding voice asked. Twilight dragged herself into the room. Her mane was a tangled disaster that would have made Rarity faint. Even Applejack was a little disturbed. Her eyes were bloodshot and her coat was dull.

"Twilight? What in the world?"

"Twilight, get back to bed!" Spike shouted running to his caretaker whom he was apparently taking care of. "You've already made yourself sick!"

"I'm not sick." Twilight protested as she swayed. She sat down. "Good morning, Applejack."

"It's five in the afternoon."

"Oh is it? I'm sorry. I'm a little tired."

Applejack walked over and sat beside Twilight. "Twilight? Is there something goin' on I should know about?"

"It's nothing. Really."

"Then why don't we go on down to Sugarcube Corner?"

"I can't."

"Why not? Pinkie would love to see you."

"The experiment. I need to keep working on the experiment. I've almost made a breakthrough." Her eye twitched.

"Um, tell me about this here experiment."

"It will fundamentally alter how we view magic. How we view our world."

"Yes, but what is it? Remember, I'm just a farmer."

"Where does magic come from? What is it?"

Applejack blinked. "I don't rightly know. I guess unicorn magic is in y'all's horns. Pegasii magic is in their wings. And our magic is in our bodies. Right?"

"That is the traditional view. But what about wild magic? The Everfree Forest, Discord, minotaurs. They all have magic."

"I ain't followin ya, Sugarcube."

Spike made significant circular motions around his ear with his claw.

"I'm not crazy. Magic is in LIGHT. That's why the strongest magic users in our world are connected to orbs of light." She rose. "I'm not crazy! Magic is one of the properties of light! Not blood, not wings, not horns, not some mythical component of DNA nopony's ever seen! It's in LIGHT! Imagine if ponykind could harness it! Imagine the things we could do! Bridges of light connecting entire continents! New healing properties of solar and lunar energy! So many things we could do with light!"

Applejack didn't know enough about science or magic to object, but something about what she said made sense. "I know sunlight helps the plants grow."

"If ponykind could harness light itself...we would be as gods."

"...Right."

"And Celestia would be so proud of me!"

"She already is." Applejack said, putting a (she hoped) comforting hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "This actually does sound interesting."

"But she'd be even more proud! She might even elevate me to her right hoof, Court Adviser or Regent even!"

"You can always hope." Applejack said, smiling. "When was the last time you slept?"

"She stayed up for four days straight, passed out three days ago, just woke up." Spike helpfully explained.

"AND YOU DIDN'T THINK ABOUT TAKING HER TO THE DARNED HOSPITAL?!" Applejack demanded.

"I'm too small to carry her."

"You could have gotten one of us." Applejack scolded.

Spike pawed at the floor. "She looked so peaceful. Besides, it's not like she hasn't done this before."

"Well, whatever, because I feel great now!"Twilight said, hopping in place. "Back to the experiment!"

She turned to go, then felt teeth on her tail. She turned.

"Um, Applejack? Could you let me go?"

Applejack spat out her tail. "Girl, when was the last time you took a shower?"

Twilight blushed and her ears folded back. "I don't remember."

"Look, my granny always told me that doin' somethin' without takin' at least occasional breaks is a good way to mess things up."

"But I just took a nap."

"A three-day nap. I think you need to go do somethin' else then come back when you're mind is fresh."

Twilight thought about it. "Well, the last time I studied something for four days without stopping I did end up making a B- on a quiz. You might be onto something."

"Besides, ain't you hungry?"

As if on cue, Twilight's stomach growled. Applejack chuckled. "You sit down. I'll make you some soup."

Twilight sat on the couch. "Can you make me tomato? I'm sure we have them. It's what my mom made me anytime I was sick."

"Awww. You never talk about your mom." Applejack said.

"Really? That's strange."

Applejack went to the kitchen and found the tomatoes. She chopped them up and soon she had some soup on. Twilight trotted in and sat at the table. Applejack poured two bowls and sat down, giving one bowl to Twilight. Twilight practically devoured hers while Applejack sipped her own.

"I think I miscalculated. Made a mistake with the equations." Twilight said. "I've been redoing them in my head. Something feels off."

"You don't say."

"If light had as much thaumaturgic-magical-energy as what I'm thinking apples would be as big as houses. Maybe it's more like magic is a fundamental property of nature. I think that's what I was originally going for. I can barely remember my actual hypothesis."

"I'm sure you wrote it down somewhere."

Twilight levitated a manebrush and began running it through her hair. "Thanks for the soup, by the way."

"Anytime."

"By the way, how's your dad?"

"Eh. He did see Applebloom. Maybe there's hope yet. Big Mac won't talk to him."

"Who will he talk to?"

"Good point. Say, Twi you ever been grazing?"

"No. I know some ponies do, but I've never done it."

"It's peaceful. Relaxing. When things get too be to much for me I like finding a rolling valley and getting back to my ancient roots. I'm thinkin' about doin' it tomorrow. Would you like to come? Maybe it'll help you clear your head."

"I might try it."
...
The next day they met on the Plains of Epona. Twilight smiled as she trotted up. There was a spring in her step and her mane and tail were looking more straightened.

"I made a breakthrough! I made a breakthrough!" Twilight exclaimed as she hopped around her friend.

"I'm glad to hear it." Applejack said, nuzzling her.

"All I had to do was carry the one." Twilight looked out at the vast ocean of grass surrounding them. "So, what do we do?"

Applejack pressed her muzzle into the earth.

"Don't talk. Just feel the land around you."

She nibbled on the grass. Twilight leaned down. The scent of clover and wild grasses surrounded her. She took a tentative nibble. She realized what she was eating was lemongrass. The flavors of the sweet and bitter plants danced along her tongue. She decided she liked it. Minutes passed by slowly as the two grazed upon the land. The constant storm that was Twilight's head began to still as she focused on the grass. There was sweetgrass and lemongrass, clover and even a few dandelions. She moved to where the dandelions were and began to nibble their golden heads. Applejack followed her. Twilight let her eat some of the dandelions.

Applejack began to nibble at her coat which Twilight realized she had neglected to brush. Applejack continued to nibble at Twilight's coat, straightening stray hairs. Every now and then she would lick Twilight's fur. Twilight nearly drew back, but stopped. Strange, primal instincts began to surface. Long before all of civilization's notions of proper and improper. As Applejack licked and brushed Twilight's coat, Twilight turned and began to return the favor. For a long time-minutes, hours? Time had no meaning-they slowly groomed each other. Finally they drew apart. Twilight felt something flicker in her horn. Some sense of connection. Their eyes met.

Applejack blushed. "It just, um, felt right?" She offered.

"It felt right to me too." Twilight said. "So, uh, want to go see what Rainbow Dash is up to?"

"That should be fun."

They trotted off.